Jefferys coach tries to get past gas-gate | GoGamecocks
Calhoun County High football coach Walter Wilson said he is ready for the whole thing to die down.
Easier said than done.
Two days after ESPN.com reported Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin told Saints player Alshon Jeffery he would end up pumping gas for the rest of his life if he signed with the Gamecocks and a day after the Volunteers coach denied saying that Wilson said he has written off the episode to the pressures of recruiting.
Its not the first time a (college) coach made a statement like this during recruiting, Wilson said Wednesday. We need to move on.
The feelings of USCs coaching staff might be another matter.
Two members of Steve Spurriers staff confirmed that Wilson, and later Jeffery and teammate Eric Mack, told USC coaches about Kiffins comments, one day after Jeffery chose the Gamecocks over Southern Cal and Tennessee.
One USC staffer, insisting on anonymity, said Wilson told him the next day about Kiffins words during a telephone conversation.
I asked (Wilson) how recruiting had gone, and he said, nasty, the USC staffer said. I asked him what, and he told me.
I called Alshon and asked, Is that true? and he said, Yeah. Then I talked to Mack: Is that true? Yeah. All three told me the same thing, word for word.
ESPN.coms Chris Low reported Kiffins comment came during a late-night phone conversation on the eve of National Signing Day. Wilson, Jeffery and Mack a junior expected to be heavily recruited next season were in an Orangeburg hotel room, taking calls on a speaker phone from Kiffin, USC coaches and Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll.
When Jeffery made it clear he would not choose Tennessee, Wilson and Jeffery said Kiffin predicted a gas-pumping future for Jeffery, like all the other players from that state who had gone to South Carolina, Low wrote.
Wilson said Kiffins words mightve bothered the kid (Jeffery). ESPN.com quoted Jeffery as saying, (Kiffin) said it, but its not worth talking about.
Alshon doesnt like the spotlight, Wilson said. Everyone needs to just leave the kid alone. He made his decision.
Low told The State that in separate interviews with Wilson and Jeffery, both had every opportunity to bash Kiffin and Tennessee, and (Wilson) went out of his way not to. (Jeffery) chose not to expound, other than to say it happened.
I asked (Jeffery) a second time: How do you feel about it? He said hed rather not talk about it anymore, but (Kiffin) definitely said it.
Wilson said he told Mack to pay attention to the process. Hes learning, first-hand, what happens in recruiting, Wilson said. Its on-the-job training for next year.
The Saints coach said he took no offense to Kiffins comments and that Tennessee assistant David Reaves (a former USC assistant) has told him the Volunteers plan to pursue Mack next year.
If you like my kids and want to recruit them, fine, Wilson said. (Recruiting) is a war, survival of the fittest.
According to Low, Kiffin did not respond to requests to comment for the original story. The Tennessee coach, however, later denied making the pumping-gas statement.
I never said that to Alshon, nor would I say anything like that, Low quoted Kiffin as saying. Thats just not something I would say.
Told about Kiffins denial, Wilson sighed.
It doesnt matter, he said. My kid is happy where he chose. Thats all that matters.
I dont want to get into a back and forth. Sometimes, you need to look at the man in the mirror.
